WWE and TNA Monday Night Wars Round #1

This was the first time in which WWE Raw has had any type of competition since WCW Monday Nitro. The following article analyzes the program put forth by TNA and WWE in their first head to head clash.

Which show had a better beginning?

    Upon first tuning into TNA I have to admit that I was expecting their first hour to be their best. The first match that they had featuring several of their X division superstars in a cage seemed like a good intro until everything went terribly wrong. For one thing the cage sorrounding the cage was very small and did not allow for any kind of good camera shots. The in ring work was good but it could hardly be seen. This asylum match turned out to be a bust when Homicide was not able to climb the top of the cage. This resulted in a somewhat embarassing moment. My other concern was that Their were far to many wrestlers in this match. In my opinion the only good thing about the match was that Jeff Hardy made his debut during it. This was shocking and made TNA seem like a contender. TNA also showed Rick Flair which also was very amazing and made me want to keep on watching.

    Monday Night Raw started off with a memorable moment between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. I feel that this clearly was the better segment considering that the Hulk Hogan promo occuring on TNA was not very good. It was good seeing the original NWO in the ring but I feel that the return of Hart was overall a better segment. I would be surprised if the Hogan promo were to beat out the hart introduction in terms of ratings.

The verdict: was that the beginning of Raw was more emotionaly powerful than the opening segment of TNA. I feel TNA ruined a great opportunity to have a good x division type match.

Which show had better matches?

    I would have to go with TNA on this one it seems that every one had a solid match with the exclusion of the opening match and the Desmond Wolf matchup with Pope. The Pope match was simply too short and not impressive. This is not to put down both mens talent simply saying that neither wrestler was given enough time to put on a good match. The match between AJ and Angle clearly stole the show. The WWE matches were good but thier divas matchups and Chris Jericho and Big Show vs DX did not live up to the caliber work rate of the TNA matchups. Their were other matches but I feel these were the defining ones.

Overall who had the better show? 

   This is a complicated question because in terms of entertainment I feel that The Bret Hart segment surpassed the segments on TNA. I feel that the ratings will show this. In terms of matches Victorias match up and the AJ vs Angle feud clearly stole the show in terms of wrestling. Hogan made a impact of course but I think the winner of round 1 is WWE. I feel TNA underused Sting did not have the sheduled Abyss match without any notification and simply did not use Jeff Hardy and  Rick Flair correctly. Dont get me wrong it was awesome to see them but they could have done a better job of introducing them.